Was driving today and could smell an electric fire, When I stopped at a light, smoke started pouring from the windshield vent. I noticed the fan was turned on for cold air but no air was coming out (just smoke). I turned the fan off and the smoke stopped.

Luckily it didn't actually catch fire, whatever it was. But now I have no fan and winter is coming....

Anyone seen this before?

 

sure seems like a fan motor failure to me. I bet you will find the fan motor frozen.

ken

 

Thanks Ken. Was along the lines of what I was thinking.

How difficult is it to replace?

 

It's possible that debris got into your air duct and jammed up the fan motor. There is a foam collar that is suppose to seal the air inlet to the coel vent. The foam deteriorates, and can let stuff get into the air box, or pieces of the foam falls in, and jams the fan.

The fan and motor is actually very easy to replace. It's something like this: Get under the hood, and remove a few screws from behind the fan and pull it out. When you have it out, you can try to turn the fans switch on to see if it actually runs at the different speed settings. And check for crud in the duct work.

 

I keep forgetting I have a repair manual. lol

I pulled the motor, shook it and little charred pieces fell out but I don't think it was foriegn debris, the foam seal and air inlet hose looked intact.

Think I will just get a new motor to be on the safe side.

 

Remove the cage fan. You'll need it on the new motor.

Jay